Jeanie's Restaurant opened last October in Republic. It's open for breakfast and lunch. / Jess Heugel/For the News-Leader

Sometimes the best restaurants are those we discover by accident. When reader Denise Stewart was on a long bike ride with her husband, they found Jeanie’s in Republic, and they’ve been hooked on the diner for breakfast since.

Denise's Take

Even though she doesn’t live in Republic, Denise now visits Jeanie’s regularly for breakfast since she first discovered it on her bike ride. It’s nothing fancy, but it has an aesthetic that Denise appreciates. “It’s got a small-town atmosphere,” she says. And while the restaurant has basic décor, it’s clean and open. Other restaurants tend to pile the tables on top of each other, but not at Jeanie’s. Denise can have a conversation without feeling like the entire room is hearing what she’s saying.

Because she and her husband both work full time, going out for breakfast on Saturday is their chance to catch up — and, of course, take a bike ride. Eating a basic breakfast at Jeanie’s starts the weekend off right.

Denise orders the Country Favorites meal with bacon ($5.69). It comes with eggs cooked her way, grits, biscuits and gravy and, of course, bacon. The Country Favorites meal can be tailored around other meat choices, too, so that customers can get all of their favorites.

“Every time we’ve been here, the quality’s been good,” she says.

Though she’s not typically a grits eater, she enjoys Jeanie’s grits. The biscuit and gravy, though, are the highlight of the Country Favorites meal for Denise. “It’s kind of a treat,” she says. “I don’t eat biscuits and gravy often, so when I do, I want to make sure they’re good.” Gravy can vary a lot restaurant to restaurant, but Jeanie’s gravy has just the right seasonings and hits the spot.

Katie's Take

Ah, breakfast. The best meal of the day. I have so many breakfast favorites that it’s hard to pick just one. Eggs, bacon, biscuits and gravy — yep, I love ‘em all.

Jeanie’s does have a simple, small-town feel, all the way down to the mismatched coffee cups. It makes me feel almost as if I’m eating breakfast in my grandma’s kitchen. It’s not a chain, and the servers are pretty laid-back — all things I look for in a small breakfast dive.

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Though the Country Favorites sounds great, I’m in the mood to go all out, so I order the Santa Fe Skillet ($7.49), and I’m not disappointed. It comes on a plate with scrambled eggs, cheese, peppers and breaded chicken pieces. Yes, you heard correctly. My breakfast skillet has chunks of chicken tenders. It’s amazing. The seasoned chicken goes so well with the eggs and cheese. I end up dipping a lot of it into my gravy, too.

The biscuit and gravy tastes great, too. The biscuit is fluffy, and the gravy has more than enough peppery flavor. The meal is so huge that I’m only able to eat half, which is shocking, because I usually have a huge appetite in the morning. I’m able to take some home to my husband, and all he can do is marvel at the restaurant’s idea to put chicken fingers in a breakfast dish. Yep, Jeanie’s has got something there. Not much can beat the flavor of a chicken strip with eggs when it comes to a savory breakfast dish.

The Dish, the Restaurant

Jeanie Clayton opened her namesake, Jeanie’s, last October when another restaurant she worked for closed down. When she decided to open her own place, she even brought in some of the employees she’d worked with at Brown’s Kitchen and Windfalls in Republic. “We needed a job, so I decided to open my own place,” she says. Having those she was already used to as employees helped her business right off the bat. “It helps the work environment,” she says. “I started with one foot already on the ladder.”

So far, Jeanie’s has enjoyed fairly steady business. “We have a lot of regulars that followed us up here,” she says. Customers enjoy the increased open space and the nice and clean atmosphere of Jeanie’s location. The new restaurant has a friendly, hometown feel, Jeanie says. “I know half the customers by first name, and the other waitresses do, too.”

Denise’s Country Favorites breakfast can come with ham, sausage, chicken fried steak — which is breaded in house, Jeanie says — or hamburger steak, in addition to bacon. “It’s pretty much one of our favorite meals,” she says. Jeanie’s also does its best to accommodate personal preferences, and the portion size doesn’t hurt either. “We’re giving a large portion for a little.”

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My Santa Fe skillet is another one of the restaurant’s popular dishes. It comes with Jeanie’s all-white-meat, deep-fried chicken fingers and is topped with eggs and cheese. The dish includes peppers and onions. “Of course you get your veggies with it,” she says.

For lunch, the restaurant offers basic sandwich and country diner fare. The restaurant also offers a cobbler or cream pie once a week or so.